2001 Supercab/4.6l with @160k miles with hardly ever any trouble

died on the way home today

hammer down on the interstate listening to the radio - no problems
radio cuts itself off
look at the instrument cluster and notice the ABS light is on
truck running fine / almost to my exit
look at dash again and notice battery indicator light is on
needle on gauge points to L
truck still running smooth / hit the exit ramp
all the gauges flicker up then down and die
truck still running fine
red light catches me at the end of ramp / heavy traffic - no good place to pull over - 1 more block and I can pull off the road
truck idleing very rough but still running / all gauges still dead
make the turn and thru the next stop light / power is affected but still running
engine finally dies / steering and brakes lose power
coast into the parking lot and wrestle the wheel to get it turned
shut the ignition off
cab light is flashing and I hear "click" "click" click"
check under the hood and hood light flickering as well and can hear the click click click.
A few minutes later the clicking stops but resumes when I open the door to get back in.
Tried to crank but totally dead.

What am I dealing with here? Not sure what made the radio cut off and the instrument cluster act that way. I realise I probably ran the battery down trying to get it off the interstate but it was rush hour and there was just not a good place to break down. What was the initial cause? Bad Alternator? And what about the incessant clicking at the end with the interior cab lights flashing? That sounded sick.

Any thoughts would be helpful as tomorrow I need to deal with the repair.

thanks

 

Sounds like the alternator went out and the battery drained. As the battery got weaker the systems began to shut down.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure how long the alternator may have been acting up. I didn't notice the gauges until there was a problem so I'm not sure how fast or slow the battery drained. I was in and out of the truck most of the day and probably logged about 80-100 miles. Been really cold here for the past week. No signs of trouble until today. Hopefully a new alternator will fix it. The clicking sound was unnerving...wasn't sure if something was shorting out and an electrical fire was next.

 

Alternator for sure....
It stopped producing power and you ran off the battery until it ran out of juice as "SJBUSA"
stated.

 

It doesn't take long for a modern truck to eat through a battery. I drive a 2004 chevy company truck at work, and it has daytime running lights. Headed down the interstate, the gauge dropped a bit, a message popped up in the "message center" saying the battery was not being charged. I headed for a stealership. About halfway there it dawned on me I needed to shut off all the electronics. So I unplugged the ipod, turned off the heat, the stereo, and unplugged my tomtom. Nothing I could do about the lights. I made it 19 miles. It was 20 to the shop. Had to be towed in that last mile to have an alternator replaced and the battery charged.......

 

Guys, Thanks for the help. Replaced the alternator and now running like a top.

 

Quick and easy....wish all "mechanical inconveniences" were that simple.
Glad to hear you up and running again.

 

If that happens to you again on your chevy, you can push your park brake pedal down one click and it will turn your daytime driving lights off and not set you E brake unless your E brake is adjusted to tight.

 

They're replacing, oh so gradually, all the chevy trucks in the fleet with Fords. I long for this one to start causing a lot of problems. I won't try to tear it up, cuz they tend to let us buy our trucks when they retire them, but I can't wait for the swap to come....